Saturday, April 3, 11am-1:30pm EST
12 students max; Online
$100
Enroll for this class.
(Enroll now to secure your spot; payment not due till January, 2027.)
In this generative class, we will discuss how fairy tales can be sources of plot, symbols, and narrative shapes, outside of retelling. We will read short fairy tales and work inspired by fairy tales, spend time free-writing and generating ideas for new stories and novels. We will touch on the work of Kate Bernheimer, Michael Cunningham, Anne Sexton, among others. Students are asked to pick a favorite or new to them fairy tale to bring to class. The tale will be used to begin a new story. In the forest, we can encounter a stranger, or something left behind. Behind every tree is a story.
We will discuss Kate Bernheimer’s essay Fairy Tale is Form, Form is Fairy Tale, in which she lays out the traditional elements of the fairy tale. How can we use these elements to write our own fairy tales, more fleshed-out stories, or find the shape of the novels we dream of writing? A pair of shoes, a coat, a little girl and her lamb, a cooking pot: in fairy tales objects, people, and animals hold tremendous symbolic power. An object in a fairy tale can grow into the driving force of a longer, more detailed work of fiction.
Enroll for this class.
About the Instructor
Richard Mirabella is a writer and civil servant living in upstate New York. His short stories have appeared in Story Magazine, swamp pink, American Short Fiction, wigleaf, and elsewhere. His first novel, Brother & Sister Enter the Forest was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, named a best book of the year by Harper’s Bazaar, and nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.
Testimonials from Previous “What We Found in the Forest” Sessions
“Instructive and inspiring. Richard uses advice from authors who he respects and admires, along with his own well-earned knowledge in discussing narrative form, character, and symbolism in fiction. He led the class in a wonderful talk about our favorite fairy tales and how we are drawn to them, and what elements of those tales we can use for our own writing. Using that as a prompt, he gave us time to write, and then share the actual written pieces or just talk about our story ideas. He wrote along with us, and shared his piece - it was great that he connected with us as a peer as well as being an instructor.” — Linda H.
“Richard Mirabella is a thoughtful, generous instructor, with a deep knowledge of his subject. I got so much out of his workshop–from the readings and handout, his lecture, discussion among workshop participants, and the prompts for in-class, generative writing. I left the session feeling energized and inspired.” — Nora M.
“I loved the combination of structured instruction, that taught me a lot about the fairy tale form, and generative writing.” — Jane Y.
Testimonials from Richard’s “Finding the Strange” Co-Lab Class
“Richard did a great job focusing on getting out of our heads and getting into the creative by embracing the doubt and diving right in. I very much enjoyed this workshop!” — Meghan C.
“Richard was a great teacher, with lots of plans for the class really well executed. Lots of thoughtful breadcrumbs about both the practice of writing and freeing our writing from the usual constraints. Very thoughtful. Great prompts for the writing exercise, and for once a lot of time to write after interesting discussion. Thank you, Richard!” — Lydia K.
“Fabulous. Took away A LOT. Richard was wonderful.” — Michael D.